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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Tot Travels: Bozeman/Missoula, Montana

Ryan and I absolutely love Montana. When we were living in Wyoming we spent a weekend camping in Gallatin Forest and enjoying the gorgeous views of Fairy Lake. We were very interested in Glacier park (still are, but have yet to make that work!) and over the summer we got to check out Bozeman and Missoula a little bit.
Bozeman was a really neat little town but we didn’t get to explore very much of it. It was a stop along the way to another destination so we basically just stopped for a quick lunch and then admired little things out the window as we left town.
We had lunch at Red Tractor Pizza and it was absolutely delicious.
Missoula was another great town we’d love to explore more. We stopped there on our way to a road trip destination and again on the way back.
On our first visit, we had a picnic lunch and stretched our legs at McCormick Park.
We thought this was just one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen. This park was specifically set up to cater to the special needs community in the area. If you’re not able to read the sign, I’ll share it at the bottom of the post. We found it to be so incredibly wonderful, and to be honest, we felt that everything about the playground worked better for small children any ways! Hopefully more park-planning committees in America will take notice!
After we ate and had gotten enough of the playground, we took a little walk to the other side of the park to check out Silver’s Lagoon. Not only is it a neat free fishing pond for children, it’s also teeming with wildlife and we had a lot of fun seeing how much fun the little guy was having.
From McCormick Park’s sign: “Kids using wheelchairs asked for rubber surfacing, adaptive swings, roll on equipment, and places to get up high! Kids on the autism spectrum wanted a cozy playhouse, sensory play in nature, and they didn’t want to feel crowded. Kids with vision impairment chose high contrast colors and bright orange. The deaf community asked for a metal slide, to protect cochlear implants. When we remove barriers, we find our differences are no big deal.”